Breanne Chan Everly Dator Alliah Tan Giselle Co Carmen So SA 21 J Ethnographic Project: Ball is Life The Activity On April 12, 2019, the group attended a practice at The Upper Deck from 2:00-4:00pm. The program, Method Basketball Academy 2019 Summer Camp: Module 1, started on March 27, 2019 and ends on April 12, 2019 with trainings thrice a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday); therefore, the group observed the final day of the program. Before this, the members of the group gathered to prepare for the observation. Upon arrival, we then introduced ourselves to the coach and thanked him for allowing us to observe his training session. The coach also instructed us with how to talk to the kids and handle the session, giving us an expectation of how the activity will proceed. The coach proceeded to introduce us to the players which consisted of kids ranging from ages six to fourteen years old. There were a total of 22 kids participating in the activity. Among these, there was only one girl while the rest were boys. The head coach is LA Tenorio, who had four assistant coaches to administer a more hands-on session. The children were then separated into their level of skill, beginner or advanced. Only four kids went to the right side of the court for the advanced practice while the rest were grouped as beginners. The session started with a jogging exercise around the court for 10 minutes which the group joined together with the kids. Dynamic stretching activities followed suit to warm-up the muscles and joints. The purpose of the first drill was to teach and master the basics of dribbling to the players. Players were tasked to dribble a basketball around the cones. The group helped in setting up the cones and picking up balls that fell off the hands of the players. The second drill is a footwork drill which is supposed to improve the players’ movement in the court such as passing and pivoting. The group continued to help with setting up the cones and helped the coach in timing each drill. Next, the group arranged the cones for the ball handling drill. This is to combine the skills of dribbling and footwork which aims to enhance hand-eye coordination. The fourth drill is for passing and blocking to help the kids in defense while playing basketball. This also enabled the kids to engage and play with one another as the earlier drills were done individually. For this activity, the members helped the coach pass and pick up balls. All of the aforementioned drills were done for 10 minutes each. Moreover,

during these drills, the assistant coach would pull out 2 players at a time to teach the proper stance and form in shooting. The last drill was to practice shooting wherein the players go in a line and shoot free throws one by one. This drill lasted for 20 minutes. A short break was given after each of the drills for the young players to drink water, wipe their sweat or change their shirts. The last part of the session was a match play for 40 minutes. Because the members were not completely aware of game rules and could not join with the children, the group was instructed to simply watch the game and keep track of the points. Because the session was the last of the entire training program, certificates were handed out to the players and the group took their class photo together with the coaches. The members thanked the coaches for allowing us to participate in a fun and engaging session and the coach also thanked the members for helping out with the activities and ensuring the safety of the children.

Experience of The Group Basketball has always been one of Philippines’ most fascinating sports for it provides not only a thrill of excitement to its players and audiences; but also, it gives a sense of satisfaction once a certain team wins. The joy of a basketball match for a player is to win as it is for the supporters. People frequently think that basketball is a sport simply enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities; however, our group believes that basketball is more than just a sport itself. After facilitating a two hour long basketball practice, the group members were able to experience similar feelings of physical exhaustion and personal fulfillment as to the basketball players, and coaches interacted with. Indeed it was a tiring activity for the group members had to exert their physical abilities to be able to the coaches and the players; however, it was at the same time fulfilling to know that our group was able to cater to their needs. Prior to the activity, the group members felt anxious towards what to expect and how to handle the situations given during the practice. Our group thought that the coaches might be very strict when it comes to training; thus, regarding our invitation to participate with them was bothersome. Despite all these negative thoughts, the coaches gave us a warm welcome to their training camp and told us not to worry as much. To prepare us for the session, the head coach briefed us on what to expect during the activity as well as how to handle the situations our group was about to face. As the activity began, our nervousness slowly faded away as the

conversation with the coach earlier made us more comfortable with the environment around us. The group definitely enjoyed the company of the basketball players along with the coaches during the drills and exercises. As the players were split into beginners and advanced, the head coach instructed us to help facilitate the assistant coaches with their needs. The group enjoyed the company of the players and the coaches while facilitating the drills. The kids were very ecstatic while playing the sport; hence, it motivated the group to help the kids improve on their craft. Their eagerness and perseverance to learn the sport encouraged the group members to be patient when it comes to assisting them with their needs. After the activity, the group members felt physically exhausted and noticed that the coaches felt the same too. Despite being tired, they still had huge smiles on their faces and continued playing with the kids. Most of the time, being “just” a sports coach exposes you to the public’s scrutiny and evaluation. Society neglects the fact that these coaches have personal motivations as regards to why they are passionate into pursuing their job. Coaches have the ability to instill values into their players and shape their character. They are great mentors who offer valid advice and only want to see their athletes succeed. After seeing the coaches’ motivation to teach the players regardless of them being tired, the group felt a sense of fulfillment towards the activity they participated in. Overall, the group felt absolutely happy and contented after catering to the needs of the people who participated in the basketball practice.

People’s Responses Upon arriving at the venue, the coach was very nice and welcoming. He understood what we needed to achieve in joining the basketball training session, so it was really kind of him to give us certain tasks that we could do so that we could participate in their training session. One of which was making us join the warm-up jog and dynamic stretching with the kids, and he also told us to help in the facilitation of their drills. The coach and his assistants were also really grateful for our help as training young players can sometimes be handful. They also said that our presence somehow influenced their training session since some of the kids were more behaved than usual. With regards to how the kids responded, they were a little shy at first since it wasn’t normal for them to have some strangers observing and interacting with them. Some of them were quite hesitant to talk to us since they didn’t know

us. The coach, however, introduced us to them and mentioned that we will be helping them with their session for that day. Towards the middle of the session, the kids were more comfortable with us since they started to communicate with us, and some of them also wanted to play with us. Not only were the kids curious as to why we were there, but also were their parents or guardians. A number of parents had asked us why we were helping and observing their children’s training session, so we explained to them that we were doing it for our Sociology and Anthropology class, which required us to do participant observation in an activity that all of us were unfamiliar of. All of the people there were very accepting as to why we were there, which made our task a lot easier.

Insights gained from the Key Informant Before the training proper, we met up with Coach LA Tenorio, the head coach of the Method Basketball Academy 2019 Summer Camp. He then gave us several pieces of advice ​ in assisting the training session. Firstly, he gave us several reminders in regards to what to expect from the kids and the session itself. He told us to expect the kids to be hyper and energetic as they are usually quite talkative and easily distracted during the session. In regards to the session, he told also to expect the drills to be complex as none of us were familiar with basketball and the training session was already the last one for the participants. Aside from giving the group reminders regarding what to expect, he also gave advice on how to act given what the group was now to expect. In response to knowing that the participants tend to behave during training, what either the assistant coaches or we could do is remain patient yet firm when giving instructions or reminding them to pay attention when then they start to lose focus during the session to keep the kids staying both disciplined and encouraged to do better. Moreover, the coach also reassured the group that even though the drills may be difficult to understand, the training session would still run smoothly with our assistance as long as we ourselves stay alert and pay careful attention to what we were to do. During the training session, the coaches and assistant coaches also instructed us on what to do during the warm-up exercises, drills and match play games. At the start of the training session, we were told to warm up for training with the kids by joining them in jogging around the basketball court and following what they do during the dynamic stretching exercises. During the drill sessions, we were instructed to assist the beginners group by helping pick up balls, set up cones and pass balls to the players and coaches. And

during the match play part of the training, we were instructed to help keep track of the score. Because the coaches and assistant coaches gave us clear instructions on what to do during the actual training proper, the group was able to adjust quickly to their style of training. At the end of the session, the coach thanked us for participating and helping him and his fellow coaches run the session more smoothly. We in turn also thanked him and his staff again for allowing us to participate as we were able to gain a lot of insights and new pieces of knowledge in regards to what occurs during a basketball training session.

Insights gained from the Participant Observation compared to just observing From this participant observation activity, our group realized the benefits of actual participation compared to just observing. Firstly, we were able to understand what happens during a basketball training session better because we had a key informant as well as other assistant coaches and players that are qualified to give us information about the session or clear our misunderstandings regarding the sport. Through observation alone, our interactions with these people would be non-existent, making new insights from the training session limited only to what we ourselves make of it. Secondly, participating in the activity made it easier to empathize with what the players and coaches. We were able to empathize with that they were feeling throughout the session, with the issues they were facing, and the things they prioritize because we ourselves were in the midst of it all. We were able to do some warm-up drills with the players so we were able to capture what they might have been feeling at the time. Helping the coaches with the drills also gave us an idea of what the coaches were thinking as we also interacted with the kids and helped the coaches encourage and discipline them. Thus, we were able to understand why coaches and players feel drained after each drill, why coaches have difficulty maintaining energy throughout the session and why the coaches and players have been doing this thrice a week, every week for the past few weeks. Players and coaches alike feel tired because each drill requires a lot of physical strength and focus; coaches have a difficult time maintaining energy because they have to do so despite feeling tired both physically and mentally from facilitating the drills and keeping track of all the kids; and the coaches and players have been doing this for a while because most, if not all the kids enjoy the sport and the coaches find fulfillment in what they do. Without participating in the activity, the group would have had a very difficult time comprehending what the people involved in the session were feeling throughout the training session. By being in solidarity

with the players and coaches for just one session, we were able to get first hand experience of what it is like to be in their shoes as well as feel what they are going through with them. Being on the “inside” we realized, is very beneficial in studying certain groups and activities as first hand experiences bring about valid points in regards to what the group is actually feeling, doing, and thinking.

Crucial role of the Key Informant Since we all grew up playing different sports - Alliah and Everly (swimming), Carmen (tennis), Giselle (badminton), and Bea (golf), none of us were really familiar of how the game works. Whenever some of our family member would watch basketball games on tv, we would often get confused as to why the referee would call out a certain player. There is definitely no doubt in saying that each of us has only limited knowledge of the overall rules and regulations of the game, so it was definitely helpful to have their coach as our key informant. Also, having a well-renowned PBA player as our key informant was definitely a big bonus. The training camp’s head coach was LA Tenorio, a Filipino PBA player of the Barangay , and also a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University in which he played a total of five seasons with. First and foremost, he explained to us the general activities they normally do in their training session. They would often start with a warm up session, which included some drills and jogging depending on which group the kids belonged in - beginner or advanced. For a more hands-on training, they would continue on pulling out kids by two’s so that they could really assess the skills of their students and know which areas they would specifically need to improve on. At the last part of their training session, they had a match play where they played an actual game, so we observed how their game went. We would sometimes get confused why someone would get called out, so the coaches or assistants would explain to us certain violations the players committed. Some violations committed during their match play were as follows: traveling, over-and-back, out of bounds, and 24-second violation. As explained by the coaches, traveling is when a player walks or take several steps without dribbling the ball. Over-and-back is a violation committed when the the player who has the ball steps into the court of the defensive team, and accidentally steps back into the other half of the court. Out of bounds is simply when the ball goes beyond the lines of the court. Lastly, the 24-second

violation happens when the offensive team fails to shoot the ball within 24 seconds. Some of these were familiar to us, but some were also quite new. What stood out the most for us was understanding that the coaches always see to it that they constantly encourage their students because they believe that this helps in their overall performance. Moreover, this will help them increase their self-confidence that will help them stand out in the future.

Participant Observation versus Interview or Questionnaire One flawed aspect of using surveys as a form of observational study is its dependence on the response of those answering. One key factor is the age of the participants. Because of this particular event, a basketball training program for kids, the survey may not be taken seriously or answered properly by kids at the age of six to fourteen years old. The interpretation of both the questions and the choices might be different from that of an adult. The presence of choices also imposes a limitation which participant observation does not. With participant observation, you are able to first-handedly experience the reactions and emotional responses of the participants of the activity such as the enthusiasm of the kids when playing, focus of the coaches, attentiveness of the parents and other audiences and more importantly, those of the members of the group as well. As mentioned earlier, participant observation has allowed the group to empathize with the players through personal experience. Direct interaction with the both the kids and the coaches gives a more unique, authentic and rich qualitative data as it provides more insight and validity. In contrast to a survey, participant observation allows for follow-up questions or ideas that may be brought up during the activity. In addition, surveys and questionnaires can also be flawed by non-response of the participants. Another major factor is that the event being observed is a sport. The physical aspect of the event is something the group believes can only be studied through participant observation. The coordination and engagement of each player and coach on the court during the drills and the match cannot be discerned by merely looking at a set of answers but rather only by visualizing it yourself. Furthermore, since the kids may also be tired after a physically exhausting activity, a questionnaire or survey may not be given much thought or may be answered in a rush.

Research methods are systematic scientific procedures of data collection, compilation, analysis, interpretation, and implication pertaining to any potential problem. Types of research methods can be broadly divided into either quantitative or qualitative categories. In choosing which type of research method to use, it would mostly be dependent on your specific research goal. Most frequently used methods in collecting data includes observation/ participant observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups and experiments. One particular method could be better suited to your research goal than others because the data you collect from different methods will be different in quality and quantity. For instance, surveys are usually designed to produce relatively short answers rather than the extensive responses expected in qualitative interviews. Selecting the right data collection method is highly based on the sole purpose of the research study. Two common data collection methods used would be interviews and participant observations. By participant observation we mean that method in which the observer participates in the daily life of the people under the study, either openly in the role of the researcher or covertly in some disguised role, observing things that happen, listening to what is said, and questioning people over some length of time (Becker and Geer, 1957). On the other hand, interviews involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program or situation (Boyce and Neale, 2006). On instances where the research requires a more straightforward analysis, conducting a structured interviews would be the most suited type of data collection to perform. With a participant observation, you see what people do while making it unlikely that the actions you observe are staged or deceptive. With interviews, the data you gain is more complex and subjective. People are telling you what they think, which is not necessarily the same as what they do. In any case, it can be colored by their perception of what you want to hear or what they think they ought to say. To be able to collect more critical and detailed data, an interview would be more suited to use instead of conducting a participant observation.

Philippine Sociocultural Context of the Activity In 1898, the American colonizers introduced the sport to the Philippines and integrated it in its school system. Although other sports were also introduced, it was clear that basketball won the hearts of the Filipinos. In fact, not long after, the Philippines won gold in the 1913 Far Eastern Games. Hence, because of the continuous growth of love for basketball,

in 1938 the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) was born. This created more awareness of the sport and quickly increased the love the Filipinos already had for it. In fact, ever since its introduction, basketball is seen everywhere in the Philippines - from television screens to street corners to actual basketball courts of either the amateur or professional levels. Despite all that, many still wonder how such love is possible, “...considering that Filipinos are not known for their height - a major asset in basketball” (De La Cruz, 2017). This is because basketball has an easy access, a high entertainment factor and a fast pace - all of which is well incorporated with Filipino culture. Take for example, the UAAP Basketball Championship - one of the most awaited championships yearly - where several channels broadcast the games, how quick the tickets sell out and how high the possibilities are for rivalries to occur. Not to mention that the participants are from several of the top universities in the country; such as, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas and the like. Asides from the easy mechanics of the sport, in Philippine modern society, economics has become a major factor to its great presence in the country. As stated by De La Cruz (2017), “Since it requires little space, no maintenance, no expensive gear, and no required number of players for a social game, basketball carries well across the poverty-stricken Philippines, where it staves off boredom for countless Filipino teenagers.” In addition to that, Alexander (2017) also states that due to the economic barriers the country has, the sport becomes limited in terms of its necessary equipment to the point that tree trunks and recycled wooden planks become the improvised equipment. Not to mention that these provisions are not at all uncommon. In fact, it is more present than the traditional ones. This just comes to show that Filipinos will do anything to be able to play the sport. Moreover, the aforementioned factors somehow reflects the frequency of the sport in the Philippines. For instance, even at times of calamities - specifically typhoon and floods - Filipinos still continue to play basketball (Pinoy BasketBalista, 2014). Ultimately, one may say that basketball is available for everyone of any age in the Philippine socioeconomic hierarchy. However, the sport still leans towards the male sex. This is also true at international levels. Similar to the NCAA basketball tournament in the United States, that despite basketball being the most collegiate sport with most women teams, they are not nearly as popular as men’s games (Luther, 2017). In local context, it can be vividly

seen in the UAAP Basketball Championships that was mentioned early, where it is only usually the men’s teams that receives high regard (Verora, 2014). As for the less professional and the amateur levels, almost all players are men just by observing the streets or courts where basketball games are publicly present. According to Luther (2017), this fact is not surprising given that “...women were historically and systematically barred from sports for a long time.” Hence, the need for women to catch up on it is highly required. In spite of the truth that women do need to exert more effort for such acknowledgment, it is still the rest of the world’s duty to eliminate the mindset of discrimination towards women - not only in basketball and sports, but also in other pressing matters; such as education and occupation. Fortunately, the aforementioned is gradually becoming of significance. This can be proven during the group’s observation, where a striking event had happened - a young female partakes in the training session, to which all the members of the group took by surprise given its high unexpectancy. Although, only one female attended the training session, the possibility of her being there portrays the organization's awareness of equality between the two sexes. What makes this more empowering is the fact that this happened at a child’s environment. Hence, not only instilling said concept into the sport, but also into the youth - the future of the entire world.

Bibliography Becker, H. & Geer, B. (1957). Participant Observation and Interviewing: A Comparison. ​ Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/44127708?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Boyce, C. & Neale, P. (2006) “Conducting in-depth Interviews: A Guide for Designing and Conducting In-Depth Interviews”, Pathfinder International Tool Series De La Cruz, E. (2017, June 19). Why the Philippines is Obsessed With Basketball. Retrieved ​ ​ from, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/why-is-the-philippines ​ -obsessed-with-basketball/ Alexander, B. (2017, December 18). Exploring the Philippines’ Improvised Love for ​ Basketball. Retrieved from, https://lyfstyl.ca/filipinos-love-for-basketball/ ​ ​ Pinoy BasketBalista. (2014, September 19). Typhoon and Flood - Basketball continues in ​ Philippines. Retrieved from, https://pinoybasketbalista.blogspot.com/2014/09/ ​ ​ Typhoon-and-flood-basketball-continues.html Luther, J. (2017, March 31). Why the Gaps Between Men’s and Women’s Sports Are So ​ Frustrating. Retrieved from, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/womens-sports-wage- ​ ​ Attention-gap Verora, L. (2014, March 25). Only for men? When will women’s hoops ring the bell in PH?. ​ ​ Retrieved from, https://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/basketball/53800-only- ​ for-men-when-womens-hoops-ring-bell-ph

Appendix

Picture 1: The players gather in a group while the coach instructs them on what to do

Picture 2: The kids prepare themselves for the warm-up activity

Picture 3: The beginners group listening to their assistant coach

Picture 4: The beginners group forms a line for their shooting drill

Picture 5: The beginners group practices their free throw shots

Picture 6: The players practicing with the help of the coaches

Picture 7: Class picture